North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un met with Russia President Vladimir Putin on Russky island, near the far-eastern Russian city of Vladivostok on April 25.

This is the first time since 2011 that the leaders of North Korea and Russia have met -- the last time being when Kim’s father Kim Jong-il visited former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2011.

In brief statements before the meeting, Putin mentioned he wanted to help calm Korean tensions and boost economic ties.

The Russian president said that the visit by Kim would help Russia "better understand how we can resolve the situation on the Korean peninsula and what Russia can do to support the positive processes currently taking place", the BBC reported.

Putin also added that there's "a lot to do" to develop economic relations between the two countries, an AFP report said.

Kim also spoke on how he hoped that the meeting could be useful in developing the relationship between Russian and North Korea into "a more stable and sound one".

Not much is known about what was spoken during the one-to-one meeting as yet.

The meeting was reported to have lasted nearly two hours -- longer than expected.

According to AFP, after talks were expanded to include officials, Kim thanked Putin for "a very good" meeting, that it was a "very meaningful exchange of views on issues of mutual interest".

What is the purpose of the meeting?

The meeting can be seen as one that will allow North Korea to seek another major power, to back them up amongst negotiations with the United States and China.

The pressure of international sanctions on the North Korean economy remains, more so after the Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump in February 2019 ended abruptly.

Besides demonstrating that they're not relying on a single ally, this may be part of their diplomatic strategy, navigating the conflict between world powers to gain concessions on economic sanctions.

In the meantime, Russia is also looking at exerting a greater demonstration of its presence in the region, starting with the first-ever summit between the two leaders.

What might have been discussed?

AFP also added that some of the possible issues up for discussion would be Russia continuing or even boosting aid to North Korea.

However, the rendering of financial aid to North Korea has been deemed to be unlikely, as Russia itself is facing sanctions over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Another key topic that may also have been discussed is the 10,000 North Korean labourers working in Russia, AFP reported.

Under sanctions, the labourers are due to leave by the end of this year, though it was reported that North Korea has asked Russia to continue to employ their workers after the deadline.

Russia is Pyongyang's second-biggest labour customer after China.

Labour from North Korea is one of the hermit state's key exports.

Read more about the meeting here:

Top photo by Valery SharifulinTASS/Getty Images